Method to modify android application life cycle to control its execution in a containerized workspace environment

ABSTRACT

Methods, devices, and systems are described to modify the life cycle of a Google Android® application, in its application manifest file and byte code, such that the execution of the application can be controlled via policies and security governed by a workspace application installed on an Android-based device. Dummy wrapper classes are inserted into the byte code for network and I/O system calls that call security code before calling the original classes.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.62/054,853, filed Sep. 24, 2014, which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety for all purposes.

This application is related to, but does not claim priority to, U.S.application Ser. No. 13/841,498, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,129,112, filed Mar.15, 2013, and U.S. application Ser. No. 14/213,244, now co-pending,filed Mar. 14, 2014, which are hereby incorporated by reference in theirentireties for all purposes.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Art

Generally, the present application relates to data processing.Specifically, the application relates to systems, methods, andmachine-readable media for providing security services to softwareapplications on mobile and other devices, including authentication,authorization, auditing, single sign on, security policy enforcement,key management and distribution, secure communication, secure datastorage, and secure data sharing, among others.

2. Discussion of the Related Art

Convenient access to enterprise resources on a mobile device is arecurring problem. Once a mobile device management (MDM) solution isinstalled on a mobile device, just about everything on the mobile devicebecomes enterprise data. This can be sub-optimal if a user of the mobiledevice wishes to use it for non-enterprise purposes.

Applications, or “apps” as they are sometimes referred to, are updatedand revised frequently. It is not uncommon for an email application tobe subject to an update patch every few months. Mobile devices and othercomputing devices often have many apps, each of which is updatedfrequently. This can make securing the mobile device from hackersdifficult because a computing device is generally only as secure as itsweakest link. If one application suffers from a security anomaly,potentially all of the data on the device may be compromised.

Because of these security vulnerabilities, many companies do not allowaccess by employees' own devices, commonly called bring-your-own-device(BYOD) access, to their corporate networks. Unless the employees consentto the MDM solution described above, which locks down everything on theuser's device, corporations have not embraced a BYOD philosophy. Analternative is for employers to provide electronic devices to employeesfor enterprise access; however, this is costly and requiresinfrastructure to update.

Better security, flexibility, and integration of apps on mobile devicesis needed.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Generally, systems, devices, and methods are described for automatically‘containerizing’ a mobile application before installation on a computingdevice so that all of the application's network calls and input/output(I/O) calls are preceded by necessary user authentication, tokenselection, and/or encryption. Before any code is executed by the nativeapplication in a constructor or network or I/O call, security code isexecuted.

A ‘containerizer’ application takes a native, unmodified application asan input and outputs a containerized, modified application.Specifically, an ApplicationManifest.XML file and a Google Dalvik®executable (DEX) byte code file for Google Android® computerapplications are extracted from a Google Android® application package(APK) file. Wrapper classes and dummy lifecycle methods are created forthe Application, Content Providers, and Activities. One purpose is tocreate a dummy lifecycle so that no original code is executed until theauthentication is done; once authentication is done successfully,policies are fetched and applied before the actual application code isexecuted.

A life cycle of a mobile device app can be modified. The method decodesan APK file and extracts an Android manifest and DEX file from it. Fromthe manifest it reads the application class name and then parses thebyte code of the application class and renames the methods CLINIT(Static Initializer), INIT (Constructor), attachBaseContext, andonCreate (Application Life cycle method) and inserts blank dummy methodswith the original name, i.e., CLINIT, INIT, attachBaseContext, andonCreate. After dealing with the application class, it fetches the nameof content provider classes from the manifest and modifies those names(in the manifest) with a suffix constant appended. Then using byte codemanipulation it creates classes for content providers with modifiednames which serve as a wrapper/delegate class over the Original ContentProvider. Once the wrappers for content providers are generated, itreads the name of activities from the manifest file and using the bytecode parser it renames the methods CLINIT, INIT, and lifecycle methods(onCreate, onResume, onStart, onRestart, onPause, onStop, onDestroy,finish) and creates dummy methods in their places. Also, a dummylauncher Activity is added in the DEX file, and its name is added in themanifest file as a launcher activity (removing launcher properties fromoriginal launcher activity), which is the first activity to be calledwhen the application is launched. Once the application lifecycle controlcomes in, dummy launcher activity authentication is triggered andpolicies are fetched. After that, original launcher activity is invoked.

A purpose of replacing original Lifecycle Methods/Classes with dummymethods/classes is so that no application code is executed before theauthentication is done and policies are fetched. A containerizer notonly modifies the lifecycle but can also wrap the file system calls andnetwork calls to inject security in those calls. E.g., before writingany data on a device the data will be encrypted and will be decrypted inreading operations. Similarly, all network calls can be proxied througha gateway installed in an enterprise network so that all network trafficcan be controlled and routed through a proper channel. To performnetwork interception it may be important to be authenticated from thenetwork where the traffic is being routed, similarly to theencrypt/decrypt on write/read operations; a key manager should beinitialized. Once authentication is done, the key manager can beinitialized and an authentication token is received to communicate overthe network. The original lifecycle methods/classes which were renamedare triggered is the same sequence. Authentication, in some instances,can only be called once control comes into activity lifecycle, e.g.,onCreate/onResume of activity. Therefore, the original life cycle isreplaced by a dummy lifecycle. Once authentication happens, the originallifecycle is invoked after the authentication.

When a containerized application is launched, the first thing thathappens is initialization of an application class. Since allinitialization/lifecycle methods were renamed, none of that code isexecuted. Instead the dummy methods (injected by containerizer) areexecuted. After the application class initialization, content providersare initialized and the wrapper classes (injected by containerizer) forthe content providers get initialized.

After application and content provider initialization, applicationlifecycle comes in dummy launcher activity which triggers authenticationand upon successful authentication key manager and network manager areinitialized. After this, the original lifecycle is triggered. Firstapplication's class renamed CLINIT, renamed INIT and renamedattachBaseContext are invoked. After executing renamed lifecyclemethods, application class original content provider classes areinitialized and their onCreate is invoked. Once Original ContentProviders get initialized, Application's class original onCreate isinvoked. Once all this is done, Original Launcher Activity is invokedand the rest of the application functions accordingly.

Sometimes an application can be triggered on some specific activity, inwhich after the application class and ContentProvider Initializationcontrol does not come in dummy launcher activity but goes directly intothe called activity. For this reason we had renamed Static initializer(CLINIT), Constructor (INIT), and lifecycle methods in activity, andadded dummy methods for Activity Life cycle in all activities. Thesedummy methods check for authentication before invoking original renamedlifecycle methods. If not authenticated, the dummy methods ofonCreate/onResume trigger authentication. Upon successfulauthentication, original life cycle for application and content providerinitialization is triggered. After this original CLINIT, INIT, andonCreate of the activity are invoked and then the rest of theapplication flow goes accordingly.

Some embodiments of the present invention are related to a method ofmodifying a life cycle of a mobile device app. The method includesproviding an application manifest file and a byte code file, theapplication manifest file and byte code file corresponding to a computersoftware application, renaming an original method of an applicationclass to a renamed method in the byte code file, inserting a wrappermethod in the application class in the byte code file, the wrappermethod having a name of the original method, the wrapper methodconfigured to call an authentication or encryption method before callingthe renamed method, modifying a name of an original content providerclass to a modified content provider class name in the applicationmanifest file, and creating a wrapper content provider class in the bytecode file, the wrapper content provider class having the modifiedcontent provider class name, the wrapper content provider classconfigured to check whether the original content provider class isinstantiated before forwarding a call to a method of the originalcontent provider class.

The method can further include renaming a name of an original method ofan activity class to a renamed method of the activity class in the bytecode file, and inserting a dummy method in the activity class in thebyte code file, the dummy method having a name of the original method ofthe activity class, the dummy method configured to call anauthentication or encryption method before calling the renamed method ofthe activity class.

All content provider class names in the application manifest file can berenamed. The method can further include reading a policy by the wrappermethod, wherein the call to the authentication or encryption method isbased on the policy. The policy can be sent to a mobile device uponwhich the mobile device app is installed from an information technology(IT) department.

The wrapper method can include a call to a mobile device managerapplication. The original method can include a static blockinitialization. The original method can include a constructor. Themethod can further include renaming an application static initializationmethod, an application constructor method, an applicationattachBaseContext( ) method, a content provider static initializationmethod, a content provider constructor method, a content provideronCreate( ) method, an application onCreate( ) method, a launcheractivity static initialization method, a launcher activity constructormethod, and launcher activity onCreate( ), onStart( ), and onResume( )methods in the byte code file.

The method can further include inserting an onCreate( ), onStart( ),onStop( ), onRestart( ), onPause( ), onResume( ), or onDestroy( ) methodinto the wrapper class. The renaming of the original method can includeappending a prefix or suffix to the original method to create therenamed method. The application manifest file can include extensiblemarkup language (XML) code. The byte code file can be a Google Dalvik®executable (DEX) byte code file for Google Android® computerapplications. The method can further include extracting the applicationmanifest file and the byte code file from a Google Android® applicationpackage (APK) file.

Yet other embodiments relate to systems executing the above-referencedmethods and machine-readable tangible storage media that employ or storeinstructions for the methods described above.

This summary is not intended to identify key or essential features ofthe claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used in isolationto determine the scope of the claimed subject matter. The subject mattershould be understood by reference to appropriate portions of the entirespecification of this patent, any or all drawings and each claim.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a mobile device connecting to a protected corporatenetwork in accordance with an embodiment.

FIGS. 2A-2B illustrate revising an application manifest file inaccordance with an embodiment.

FIGS. 3A-3B illustrate revising a byte code file in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 4 illustrates a modification of an application lifecycle inaccordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a process in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 6 depicts a simplified diagram of a networked system forimplementing one of the embodiments.

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary computer system, in which variousembodiments of the present invention may be implemented.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, specificdetails are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding ofembodiments of the invention. However, it will be apparent that variousembodiments may be practiced without these specific details. The figuresand description are not intended to be restrictive.

Systems depicted in some of the figures may be provided in variousconfigurations. In some embodiments, the systems may be configured as adistributed system where one or more components of the system aredistributed across one or more networks in a cloud computing system.

Aspects of the invention are directed toward how to perform securecontainerization on a Google Android® operating system (OS)-baseddevice. How a containerization goal is achieved on an Android platformis described. It defines a procedure of how to intercept an Androidapplication life cycle and perform injections to achieve the desiredgoal.

Containerization is a novel approach to secure mobile apps. One canprovide a secure workspace and integrate other apps around it so theyshare an eco system of a containerized environment along with theworkspace.

Prior industry solutions simply installed an MDM on a mobile device;after that, the device effectively becomes the property of theenterprise. Even personal apps become subject to enterprise policies.

With a mobile workspace solution such as one described herein, personaldata and enterprise data can remain under separate control. Enterpriseapps and their data, which work in a containerized environment, remainunder the control of company policies. Their network access and filesystem access is secured in a common fashion across the containerizedenvironment.

Technical advantages of such a mobile workspace solution are that itcan:

-   -   add security to the mobile app;    -   provide secure network and file access;    -   provide authenticated access to app;    -   provide policy control over the apps;    -   provide data leakage protection; and    -   provide control over a containerized environment on a device,        which could be locked/wiped/cleaned from the admin console        without touching the personal data on device.

Approach

A general lifecycle of a Google Android® application typically includesthe following:

-   -   Application Class Initialization    -   Static Initialization    -   Constructor Initialization    -   attachBaseContext( ) Application Lifecycle initialization    -   Content Providers    -   Static Initialization    -   Constructor Initialization    -   onCreate( ) Content Provider Life cycle initialization    -   onCreate( ) Application Lifecycle Initialization    -   Launcher Activity Initialization    -   Static Initialization    -   Constructor initialization    -   onCreate( ), onStart( ), onResume( ) Activity Lifecycle        Initialization

One can alter this lifecycle in order to force every network and I/Ocall from an application to check a security policy and/or run asecurity check beforehand.

FIG. 1 illustrates a mobile device connecting to a protected corporatenetwork in accordance with an embodiment. In system 100, smart phone 102communicates over wide area network 110 with corporate network 120.

In smart phone 102, app 108, which runs on Dalvik® virtual machine (VM)106, is denied a direct connection with external entities. Instead,wrappers around key constructors and initializations force network callsto go through mobile data manager (MDM) 104. Mobile data manager 104 cancheck authentication tokens and other security-related aspects of thedevice's communications. App 108 effectively communicates through mobiledata manager 104 to wide area network 110, such as the Internet, withcorporate network 120.

On corporate network 120, all incoming and outgoing network traffic ischecked and regulated by firewall 112. Calls to enterprise server 114from mobile device 102 can take the form of enterprise web service 116.For example, app 108 may tap into internal employee records, which areprovided by enterprise service 116.

The company's IT department may promulgate policy 118, a copy of whichis sent through wide area network 110 to mobile device 102. The copy ofthe policy, which may take the form of an extensible markup language(XML) file, may be consulted by the wrapper classes in app 108 in orderto determine if and when to acquire security certificates, etc. forcertain transactions.

FIGS. 2A-2B illustrate revising an application manifest file inaccordance with an embodiment. In FIG. 2A, original application manifestfile 202 has an original class name 204,“oracle.webcenter.content.android.documentsprovider.WCCFilesProvider”.Within the elements named by this class name are original subelements.

In FIG. 2B, revised application manifest file 206 is shown to haveoriginal class name 204 renamed to a renamed class name with a “MyC14N”prefix. That is, it is renamed to“oracle.webcenter.content.android.documentsprovider.MyC14NWCCFilesProvider”.Further new class definition 210 is added with the same class name asthe original class name, namely“oracle.webcenter.content.android.documentsprovider.WCCFilesProvider”.Under the new class definition are new subelements. The new subelementsmay or may not be copies of the original subelements. Some subelementsmay be deleted.

FIGS. 3A-3B illustrate revising a byte code file in accordance with anembodiment.

In FIG. 3A, original byte code file 302 has an original class 304,“ContentProvider”. Within the class is original code.

In FIG. 3B, revised type code file 306 is shown to have original classname renamed to a renamed class with a “MyC14N” prefix. That is, it isrenamed to “MyC14NContentProvider”. Its original code remains the same.

New class 310 is added with the same name as the original class,“ContentProvider.” This new class defines a variable to check whether ithas been instantiated and initialized or not. It also creates wrappermethods, such as onCreate( ), which read a policy, authenticate,encrypt/decrypt or perform other security functions based on the policy,and then call the original onCreate( ) function of the original class.

FIG. 4 shows a byte code manipulation/injection for interception ofexecution of application code that can be employed. For every possiblenetwork and file system operation, one can create a wrapper class thatis injected into the existing application. One can implement the actualbyte code modification in the existing code, replacing the originalclasses with wrapper classes. For example:

-   -   Once can replace FileInputStream and FileOutputStream with        custom wrapper classes.

Since one may wish to control the application life cycle, a byte codemanipulation approach to inject/modify existing life cycle code can beused.

One purpose for using this approach is to get the user authenticatedbefore the user is allowed to execute the application and to fetch thesession data and encryption keys from the secure workspace after theauthentication. Thus, the network calls and file system calls canactually work. Some wrappers need a master encryption key to decode theencryption key, which is used to encrypt/decrypt data in every fileoperation. Also, for a network call, the session token can be requiredto establish the authenticity of a call made to any network resource,which can be routed via the Oracle mobile security gateway or othercloud-based gateway.

To achieve the above use case, one can delay the entire applicationlifecycle and introduce a dummy lifecycle so that the user could beauthenticated first and then fetch the master encryption key and sessiontoken.

Here is a step-by-step list in an application lifecycle in accordancewith an embodiment.

-   -   Application Class initialization occurs in operation 402.    -   For static initialization 404, it is renamed in containerization        step 430 to a custom defined, constant prefixed/suffixed name so        it can be invoked later and injected a empty class initializer    -   For constructor initialization 406, it is renamed in        containerization step 432 to a custom defined, constant        prefixed/suffixed name so it can be invoked later and injected a        empty class constructor. This can be done with all the available        constructors. It can be done to all the constructors of the        super class, and their respective super( ), invocation can also        be changed to the custom name mentioned above.    -   Method attachBaseContext( ), 408 can be renamed in operation 434        to a custom defined, constant prefixed/suffixed name so it can        be invoked later and injected an empty method for it.    -   For content provider initialization 410, one can inject a dummy        content provider for each content provider defined in the        application and also change the reference in the associated        manifest XML (extensible markup language) in operation 436.        These dummy content providers in turn contain a reference to the        original content provider, and all the method calls on this        dummy content provider are delegated to the original content        provider. Content providers are typically not normally        initialized until a first call is made to any interface method.        Or one can simply say that it was a lazy initialization. For        example, if content provider is MyContentProvider than one can        implement the following:    -   Change the entry in Manifest <provider        android:name=“MyContentProvider”> to <provider        android:name=“MyC14NContentProvider”>    -   Injected a class called MyC14NContentProvider with static init        412 and constructor init 414.

class MyC14NContentProvider{  Content Provider delegate;  onCreate( ){    //Nothing  }  insert ( ) {   checkInit( )   delegate.insert( );  } query ( ) {   checkInit( );   delegate.query( )  }  checkInit( ){  if(delegate == null){    delegate = new MyContentProvider( );   delegate.setContext(getContext( ));    delegate.onCreate( );  }  . ..

In this way, the initialization of the content provider is delayed byintroducing dummy content providers and delegating their interfacemethods to original methods of original classes.

-   -   For application onCreate( ) initialization 416, the        containerizer can perform the following operations.    -   The onCreate( ) method can be renamed in operation 438 to a        custom defined, constant prefixed/suffixed name so that it could        be invoked later and in turn injected a dummy method of        onCreate( ) This is done for all super classes, and invocation        of super.onCreate( ) can be delegated to the renamed onCreate( )        method mentioned above.    -   For activity lifecycle initialization, such as for launcher        activity initi 420, one can inject a dummy activity in operation        440, make it as a launcher activity, and remove the launcher        action from the original activity. Once one acquires control in        a dummy activity, one can call the workspace for authentication,        which would return a session token and master encryption key.        Once one acquires the key, one can reinitialize the whole cycle        by invoking the original methods which were renamed.    -   Original application class static initializer 422 can be called.    -   Original application class constructor 424 can then be called.    -   Original application class attachBaseContext( ) may be called.    -   Init( ) can be called on dummy content providers, which will        initialize the original content providers.    -   Original application class onCreate( ) can be called.    -   Similarly, one can inject/modify lifecycle of original existing        activities    -   One can rename onCreate( ), onRestart( ), onResume( ) methods of        426 in operation 442 and inject custom-defined lifecycle        methods, where one will do the task of policy implementations        and then invoke the original renamed method afterwards. For        example:    -   onCreate( ) renamed to onCreate_C14N( )    -   inject our own onCreate( )    -   onCreate{        -   // do our Custom tasks for policy and data check            onCreate_C14N( )    -   }    -   Similarly, this can be performed for other Life cycle methods        onStart( ), onResume( ), onPause( ), onStop( ), onDestroy( )    -   Using the same approach of byte code modification/injection, one        can replace the system calls of shared preferences and        startActivity( ) with one's own custom calls, where one can        perform all encryption/decryption and check for policies, and        then invoke the original operation.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating process 500 in accordance with anembodiment. The process can be implemented by computer by executinginstructions in a processor or otherwise. In operation 501, anapplication manifest file and byte code file are provided, theapplication manifest file and byte code file corresponding to a computersoftware application. In operation 502, an original method of anapplication class is renamed to a renamed method in the byte code file.In operation 503, a wrapper method is inserted in the application classin the byte code file, the wrapper method having a name of the originalmethod, the wrapper method configured to call an authentication orencryption method before calling the renamed method. In operation 504, aname of an original content provider class is modified to a modifiedcontent provider class name in the application manifest file. Inoperation 505, a wrapper content provider class is created in the bytecode file, the wrapper content provider class having the modifiedcontent provider class name, the wrapper content provider classconfigured to check whether the original content provider class isinstantiated before forwarding a call to a method of the originalprovider class.

In operation 506, a name of an original method of an activity class isrenamed to a renamed method of the activity class in the byte code file.In operation 507, a dummy method is inserted in the activity class inthe byte code file, the dummy method having a name of the originalmethod of the activity class, the dummy method configured to call anauthentication or encryption method before calling the renamed method ofthe activity class.

Computer System Infrastructure

FIG. 6 depicts a simplified diagram of a distributed system 600 forimplementing one of the embodiments. In the illustrated embodiment,distributed system 600 includes one or more client computing devices602, 604, 606, and 608, which are configured to execute and operate aclient application such as a web browser, proprietary client (e.g.,Oracle Forms), or the like over one or more network(s) 610. Server 612may be communicatively coupled with remote client computing devices 602,604, 606, and 608 via network 610.

In various embodiments, server 612 may be adapted to run one or moreservices or software applications provided by one or more of thecomponents of the system. In some embodiments, these services may beoffered as web-based or cloud services or under a Software as a Service(SaaS) model to the users of client computing devices 602, 604, 606,and/or 608. Users operating client computing devices 602, 604, 606,and/or 608 may in turn utilize one or more client applications tointeract with server 612 to utilize the services provided by thesecomponents.

In the configuration depicted in the figure, the software components618, 620 and 622 of system 600 are shown as being implemented on server612. In other embodiments, one or more of the components of system 600and/or the services provided by these components may also be implementedby one or more of the client computing devices 602, 604, 606, and/or608. Users operating the client computing devices may then utilize oneor more client applications to use the services provided by thesecomponents. These components may be implemented in hardware, firmware,software, or combinations thereof. It should be appreciated that variousdifferent system configurations are possible, which may be differentfrom distributed system 600. The embodiment shown in the figure is thusone example of a distributed system for implementing an embodimentsystem and is not intended to be limiting.

Client computing devices 602, 604, 606, and/or 608 may be portablehandheld devices (e.g., an iPhone®, cellular telephone, an iPad®,computing tablet, a personal digital assistant (PDA)) or wearabledevices (e.g., a Google Glass® head mounted display), running softwaresuch as Microsoft Windows Mobile®, and/or a variety of mobile operatingsystems such as iOS, Windows Phone, Android, BlackBerry 10, Palm OS, andthe like, and being Internet, e-mail, short message service (SMS),Blackberry®, or other communication protocol enabled. The clientcomputing devices can be general purpose personal computers including,by way of example, personal computers and/or laptop computers runningvarious versions of Microsoft Windows®, Apple Macintosh®, and/or Linuxoperating systems. The client computing devices can be workstationcomputers running any of a variety of commercially-available UNIX® orUNIX-like operating systems, including without limitation the variety ofGNU/Linux operating systems, such as for example, Google Chrome OS.Alternatively, or in addition, client computing devices 602, 604, 606,and 608 may be any other electronic device, such as a thin-clientcomputer, an Internet-enabled gaming system (e.g., a Microsoft Xboxgaming console with or without a Kinect® gesture input device), and/or apersonal messaging device, capable of communicating over network(s) 610.

Although exemplary distributed system 600 is shown with four clientcomputing devices, any number of client computing devices may besupported. Other devices, such as devices with sensors, etc., mayinteract with server 612.

Network(s) 610 in distributed system 600 may be any type of networkfamiliar to those skilled in the art that can support datacommunications using any of a variety of commercially-availableprotocols, including without limitation TCP/IP (transmission controlprotocol/Internet protocol), SNA (systems network architecture), IPX(Internet packet exchange), AppleTalk, and the like. Merely by way ofexample, network(s) 610 can be a local area network (LAN), such as onebased on Ethernet, Token-Ring and/or the like. Network(s) 610 can be awide-area network and the Internet. It can include a virtual network,including without limitation a virtual private network (VPN), anintranet, an extranet, a public switched telephone network (PSTN), aninfra-red network, a wireless network (e.g., a network operating underany of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics (IEEE) 802.11 suiteof protocols, Bluetooth®, and/or any other wireless protocol); and/orany combination of these and/or other networks.

Server 612 may be composed of one or more general purpose computers,specialized server computers (including, by way of example, PC (personalcomputer) servers, UNIX® servers, mid-range servers, mainframecomputers, rack-mounted servers, etc.), server farms, server clusters,or any other appropriate arrangement and/or combination. In variousembodiments, server 612 may be adapted to run one or more services orsoftware applications described in the foregoing disclosure. Forexample, server 612 may correspond to a server for performing processingdescribed above according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Server 612 may run an operating system including any of those discussedabove, as well as any commercially available server operating system.Server 612 may also run any of a variety of additional serverapplications and/or mid-tier applications, including HTTP (hypertexttransport protocol) servers, FTP (file transfer protocol) servers, CGI(common gateway interface) servers, JAVA® servers, database servers, andthe like. Exemplary database servers include without limitation thosecommercially available from Oracle, Microsoft, Sybase, IBM(International Business Machines), and the like.

In some implementations, server 612 may include one or more applicationsto analyze and consolidate data feeds and/or event updates received fromusers of client computing devices 602, 604, 606, and 608. As an example,data feeds and/or event updates may include, but are not limited to,Twitter® feeds, Facebook® updates or real-time updates received from oneor more third party information sources and continuous data streams,which may include real-time events related to sensor data applications,financial tickers, network performance measuring tools (e.g., networkmonitoring and traffic management applications), clickstream analysistools, automobile traffic monitoring, and the like. Server 612 may alsoinclude one or more applications to display the data feeds and/orreal-time events via one or more display devices of client computingdevices 602, 604, 606, and 608.

Distributed system 600 may also include one or more databases 614 and616. Databases 614 and 616 may reside in a variety of locations. By wayof example, one or more of databases 614 and 616 may reside on anon-transitory storage medium local to (and/or resident in) server 612.Alternatively, databases 614 and 616 may be remote from server 612 andin communication with server 612 via a network-based or dedicatedconnection. In one set of embodiments, databases 614 and 616 may residein a storage-area network (SAN). Similarly, any necessary files forperforming the functions attributed to server 612 may be stored locallyon server 612 and/or remotely, as appropriate. In one set ofembodiments, databases 614 and 616 may include relational databases,such as databases provided by Oracle, that are adapted to store, update,and retrieve data in response to SQL-formatted commands.

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary computer system 700, in which variousembodiments of the present invention may be implemented. The system 700may be used to implement any of the computer systems described above. Asshown in the figure, computer system 700 includes a processing unit 704that communicates with a number of peripheral subsystems via a bussubsystem 702. These peripheral subsystems may include a processingacceleration unit 706, an I/O subsystem 708, a storage subsystem 718 anda communications subsystem 724. Storage subsystem 718 includes tangiblecomputer-readable storage media 722 and a system memory 710.

Bus subsystem 702 provides a mechanism for letting the variouscomponents and subsystems of computer system 700 communicate with eachother as intended. Although bus subsystem 702 is shown schematically asa single bus, alternative embodiments of the bus subsystem may utilizemultiple buses. Bus subsystem 702 may be any of several types of busstructures including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheralbus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. Forexample, such architectures may include an Industry StandardArchitecture (ISA) bus, Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, EnhancedISA (EISA) bus, Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) localbus, and Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, which can beimplemented as a Mezzanine bus manufactured to the IEEE P1386.1standard.

Processing unit 704, which can be implemented as one or more integratedcircuits (e.g., a conventional microprocessor or microcontroller),controls the operation of computer system 700. One or more processorsmay be included in processing unit 704. These processors may includesingle core or multicore processors. In certain embodiments, processingunit 704 may be implemented as one or more independent processing units732 and/or 734 with single or multicore processors included in eachprocessing unit. In other embodiments, processing unit 704 may also beimplemented as a quad-core processing unit formed by integrating twodual-core processors into a single chip.

In various embodiments, processing unit 704 can execute a variety ofprograms in response to program code and can maintain multipleconcurrently executing programs or processes. At any given time, some orall of the program code to be executed can be resident in processor(s)704 and/or in storage subsystem 718. Through suitable programming,processor(s) 704 can provide various functionalities described above.Computer system 700 may additionally include a processing accelerationunit 706, which can include a digital signal processor (DSP), aspecial-purpose processor, and/or the like.

I/O subsystem 708 may include user interface input devices and userinterface output devices. User interface input devices may include akeyboard, pointing devices such as a mouse or trackball, a touchpad ortouch screen incorporated into a display, a scroll wheel, a click wheel,a dial, a button, a switch, a keypad, audio input devices with voicecommand recognition systems, microphones, and other types of inputdevices. User interface input devices may include, for example, motionsensing and/or gesture recognition devices such as the Microsoft Kinect®motion sensor that enables users to control and interact with an inputdevice, such as the Microsoft Xbox® 360 game controller, through anatural user interface using gestures and spoken commands. Userinterface input devices may also include eye gesture recognition devicessuch as the Google Glass® blink detector that detects eye activity(e.g., ‘blinking’ while taking pictures and/or making a menu selection)from users and transforms the eye gestures as input into an input device(e.g., Google Glass®). Additionally, user interface input devices mayinclude voice recognition sensing devices that enable users to interactwith voice recognition systems (e.g., Siri® navigator), through voicecommands.

User interface input devices may also include, without limitation, threedimensional (3D) mice, joysticks or pointing sticks, gamepads andgraphic tablets, and audio/visual devices such as speakers, digitalcameras, digital camcorders, portable media players, webcams, imagescanners, fingerprint scanners, barcode reader 3D scanners, 3D printers,laser rangefinders, and eye gaze tracking devices. Additionally, userinterface input devices may include, for example, medical imaging inputdevices such as computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging,position emission tomography, medical ultrasonography devices. Userinterface input devices may also include, for example, audio inputdevices such as MIDI keyboards, digital musical instruments and thelike.

User interface output devices may include a display subsystem, indicatorlights, or non-visual displays such as audio output devices, etc. Thedisplay subsystem may be a cathode ray tube (CRT), a flat-panel device,such as that using a liquid crystal display (LCD) or plasma display, aprojection device, a touch screen, and the like. In general, use of theterm “output device” is intended to include all possible types ofdevices and mechanisms for outputting information from computer system700 to a user or other computer. For example, user interface outputdevices may include, without limitation, a variety of display devicesthat visually convey text, graphics and audio/video information such asmonitors, printers, speakers, headphones, automotive navigation systems,plotters, voice output devices, and modems.

Computer system 700 may comprise a storage subsystem 718 that comprisessoftware elements, shown as being currently located within a systemmemory 710. System memory 710 may store program instructions that areloadable and executable on processing unit 704, as well as datagenerated during the execution of these programs.

Depending on the configuration and type of computer system 700, systemmemory 710 may be volatile (such as random access memory (RAM)) and/ornon-volatile (such as read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, etc.) TheRAM typically contains data and/or program modules that are immediatelyaccessible to and/or presently being operated and executed by processingunit 704. In some implementations, system memory 710 may includemultiple different types of memory, such as static random access memory(SRAM) or dynamic random access memory (DRAM). In some implementations,a basic input/output system (BIOS), containing the basic routines thathelp to transfer information between elements within computer system700, such as during start-up, may typically be stored in the ROM. By wayof example, and not limitation, system memory 710 also illustratesapplication programs 712, which may include client applications, Webbrowsers, mid-tier applications, relational database management systems(RDBMS), etc., program data 714, and an operating system 716. By way ofexample, operating system 716 may include various versions of MicrosoftWindows®, Apple Macintosh®, and/or Linux operating systems, a variety ofcommercially-available UNIX® or UNIX-like operating systems (includingwithout limitation the variety of GNU/Linux operating systems, theGoogle Chrome® OS, and the like) and/or mobile operating systems such asiOS, Windows® Phone, Android® OS, BlackBerry® 10 OS, and Palm® OSoperating systems.

Storage subsystem 718 may also provide a tangible computer-readablestorage medium for storing the basic programming and data constructsthat provide the functionality of some embodiments. Software (programs,code modules, instructions) that when executed by a processor providethe functionality described above may be stored in storage subsystem718. These software modules or instructions may be executed byprocessing unit 704. Storage subsystem 718 may also provide a repositoryfor storing data used in accordance with the present invention.

Storage subsystem 700 may also include a computer-readable storage mediareader 720 that can further be connected to computer-readable storagemedia 722. Together and, optionally, in combination with system memory710, computer-readable storage media 722 may comprehensively representremote, local, fixed, and/or removable storage devices plus storagemedia for temporarily and/or more permanently containing, storing,transmitting, and retrieving computer-readable information.

Computer-readable storage media 722 containing code, or portions ofcode, can also include any appropriate media known or used in the art,including storage media and communication media, such as but not limitedto, volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable mediaimplemented in any method or technology for storage and/or transmissionof information. This can include tangible computer-readable storagemedia such as RAM, ROM, electronically erasable programmable ROM(EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digitalversatile disk (DVD), or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes,magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices,or other tangible computer readable media. This can also includenontangible computer-readable media, such as data signals, datatransmissions, or any other medium which can be used to transmit thedesired information and which can be accessed by computing system 700.

By way of example, computer-readable storage media 722 may include ahard disk drive that reads from or writes to non-removable, nonvolatilemagnetic media, a magnetic disk drive that reads from or writes to aremovable, nonvolatile magnetic disk, and an optical disk drive thatreads from or writes to a removable, nonvolatile optical disk such as aCD ROM, DVD, and Blu-Ray® disk, or other optical media.Computer-readable storage media 722 may include, but is not limited to,Zip® drives, flash memory cards, universal serial bus (USB) flashdrives, secure digital (SD) cards, DVD disks, digital video tape, andthe like. Computer-readable storage media 722 may also include,solid-state drives (SSD) based on non-volatile memory such asflash-memory based SSDs, enterprise flash drives, solid state ROM, andthe like, SSDs based on volatile memory such as solid state RAM, dynamicRAM, static RAM, DRAM-based SSDs, magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM) SSDs, andhybrid SSDs that use a combination of DRAM and flash memory based SSDs.The disk drives and their associated computer-readable media may providenon-volatile storage of computer-readable instructions, data structures,program modules, and other data for computer system 700.

Communications subsystem 724 provides an interface to other computersystems and networks. Communications subsystem 724 serves as aninterface for receiving data from and transmitting data to other systemsfrom computer system 700. For example, communications subsystem 724 mayenable computer system 700 to connect to one or more devices via theInternet. In some embodiments communications subsystem 724 can includeradio frequency (RF) transceiver components for accessing wireless voiceand/or data networks (e.g., using cellular telephone technology,advanced data network technology, such as 3G, 4G or EDGE (enhanced datarates for global evolution), WiFi (IEEE 802.11 family standards, orother mobile communication technologies, or any combination thereof),global positioning system (GPS) receiver components, and/or othercomponents. In some embodiments communications subsystem 724 can providewired network connectivity (e.g., Ethernet) in addition to or instead ofa wireless interface.

In some embodiments, communications subsystem 724 may also receive inputcommunication in the form of structured and/or unstructured data feeds726, event streams 728, event updates 730, and the like on behalf of oneor more users who may use computer system 700.

By way of example, communications subsystem 724 may be configured toreceive data feeds 726 in real-time from users of social networks and/orother communication services such as Twitter® feeds, Facebook® updates,web feeds such as Rich Site Summary (RSS) feeds, and/or real-timeupdates from one or more third party information sources.

Additionally, communications subsystem 724 may also be configured toreceive data in the form of continuous data streams, which may includeevent streams 728 of real-time events and/or event updates 730, that maybe continuous or unbounded in nature with no explicit end. Examples ofapplications that generate continuous data may include, for example,sensor data applications, financial tickers, network performancemeasuring tools (e.g. network monitoring and traffic managementapplications), clickstream analysis tools, automobile trafficmonitoring, and the like.

Communications subsystem 724 may also be configured to output thestructured and/or unstructured data feeds 726, event streams 728, eventupdates 730, and the like to one or more databases that may be incommunication with one or more streaming data source computers coupledto computer system 700.

Computer system 700 can be one of various types, including a handheldportable device (e.g., an iPhone® cellular phone, an iPad® computingtablet, a PDA), a wearable device (e.g., a Google Glass® head mounteddisplay), a PC, a workstation, a mainframe, a kiosk, a server rack, orany other data processing system.

Due to the ever-changing nature of computers and networks, thedescription of computer system 700 depicted in the figure is intendedonly as a specific example. Many other configurations having more orfewer components than the system depicted in the figure are possible.For example, customized hardware might also be used and/or particularelements might be implemented in hardware, firmware, software (includingapplets), or a combination. Further, connection to other computingdevices, such as network input/output devices, may be employed. Based onthe disclosure and teachings provided herein, a person of ordinary skillin the art will appreciate other ways and/or methods to implement thevarious embodiments.

In the foregoing specification, aspects of the invention are describedwith reference to specific embodiments thereof, but those skilled in theart will recognize that the invention is not limited thereto. Variousfeatures and aspects of the above-described invention may be usedindividually or jointly. Further, embodiments can be utilized in anynumber of environments and applications beyond those described hereinwithout departing from the broader spirit and scope of thespecification. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to beregarded as illustrative rather than restrictive.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of modifying a life cycle of a mobiledevice app, the method comprising: providing an application manifestfile and a byte code file, the application manifest file and byte codefile corresponding to a computer software application; renaming anoriginal method of an application class to a renamed method in the bytecode file; inserting a wrapper method in the application class in thebyte code file, the wrapper method having a name of the original method,the wrapper method configured to call an authentication or encryptionmethod before calling the renamed method; modifying, by a processor, aname of an original content provider class to a modified contentprovider class name in the application manifest file; creating a wrappercontent provider class in the byte code file, the wrapper contentprovider class having the modified content provider class name, thewrapper content provider class configured to check whether the originalcontent provider class is instantiated before forwarding a call to amethod of the original content provider class; renaming a name of anoriginal method of an activity class to a renamed method of the activityclass in the byte code file; and inserting a dummy method in theactivity class in the byte code file, the dummy method having a name ofthe original method of the activity class, the dummy method configuredto call an authentication or encryption method before calling therenamed method of the activity class.
 2. The method of claim 1 whereinall content provider class names in the application manifest file arerenamed.
 3. The method of claim 1 further comprising: reading a policyby the wrapper method, wherein the call to the authentication orencryption method is based on the policy.
 4. The method of claim 3wherein the policy is sent to a mobile device upon which the mobiledevice app is installed from an information technology (IT) department.5. The method of claim 1 wherein the wrapper method includes a call to amobile device manager application.
 6. The method of claim 1 wherein theoriginal method includes a static block initialization.
 7. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the original method includes a constructor.
 8. Themethod of claim 7 further comprising: renaming an application staticinitialization method, an application constructor method, an applicationattachBaseContext( ) method, a content provider static initializationmethod, a content provider constructor method, a content provideronCreate( ) method, an application onCreate( ) method, a launcheractivity static initialization method, a launcher activity constructormethod, and launcher activity onCreate( ), onStart( ), and onResume( )methods in the byte code file.
 9. The method of claim 1 furthercomprising: inserting an onCreate( ), onStart( ), onStop( ), onRestart(), onPause( ), onResume( ), or onDestroy( ) method into the wrapperclass.
 10. The method of claim 1 wherein the renaming of the originalmethod includes appending a prefix or suffix to the original method tocreate the renamed method.
 11. The method of claim 1 wherein theapplication manifest file includes extensible markup language (XML)code.
 12. The method of claim 1 wherein the byte code file is a GoogleDalvik® executable (DEX) byte code file for Google Android® computerapplications.
 13. The method of claim 1 further comprising: extractingthe application manifest file and the byte code file from a GoogleAndroid® application package (APK) file.
 14. A machine-readablenon-transitory medium embodying information indicative of instructionsfor causing one or more machines to perform operations for modifying alife cycle of a mobile device app, the operations comprising: providingan application manifest file and a byte code file, the applicationmanifest file and byte code file corresponding to a computer softwareapplication; renaming an original method of an application class to arenamed method in the byte code file; inserting a wrapper method in theapplication class in the byte code file, the wrapper method having aname of the original method, the wrapper method configured to call anauthentication or encryption method before calling the renamed method;modifying, by a processor, a name of an original content provider classto a modified content provider class name in the application manifestfile; creating a wrapper content provider class in the byte code file,the wrapper content provider class having the modified content providerclass name, the wrapper content provider class configured to checkwhether the original content provider class is instantiated beforeforwarding a call to a method of the original content provider class;renaming a name of an original method of an activity class to a renamedmethod of the activity class in the byte code file; inserting a dummymethod in the activity class in the byte code file, the dummy methodhaving a name of the original method of the activity class, the dummymethod configured to call an authentication or encryption method beforecalling the renamed method of the activity class.
 15. The medium ofclaim 14 wherein all content provider class names in the applicationmanifest file are renamed.
 16. A computer system for modifying a lifecycle of a mobile device app, the system comprising: a processor, and amemory operatively coupled with the processor, the processor executinginstructions from the memory comprising: program code for providing anapplication manifest file and a byte code file, the application manifestfile and byte code file corresponding to a computer softwareapplication; program code for renaming an original method of anapplication class to a renamed method in the byte code file; programcode for inserting a wrapper method in the application class in the bytecode file, the wrapper method having a name of the original method, thewrapper method configured to call an authentication or encryption methodbefore calling the renamed method; program code for modifying a name ofan original content provider class to a modified content provider classname in the application manifest file; program code for creating awrapper content provider class in the byte code file, the wrappercontent provider class having the modified content provider class name,the wrapper content provider class configured to check whether theoriginal content provider class is instantiated before forwarding a callto a method of the original content provider class; program code forrenaming a name of an original method of an activity class to a renamedmethod of the activity class in the byte code file; and program code forinserting a dummy method in the activity class in the byte code file,the dummy method having a name of the original method of the activityclass, the dummy method configured to call an authentication orencryption method before calling the renamed method of the activityclass.
 17. The system of claim 16 wherein all content provider classnames in the application manifest file are renamed.
 18. The system ofclaim 16 wherein the processor executes instructions further comprising:reading a policy by the wrapper method, wherein the call to theauthentication or encryption method is based on the policy.
 19. Thesystem of claim 18 wherein the policy is sent to a mobile device uponwhich the mobile device app is installed from an information technology(IT) department.
 20. The system of claim 16 wherein the wrapper methodincludes a call to a mobile device manager application.